Senior Management Team

Our people are making it happen.

Our hardworking and dedicated leadership team use their knowledge, skills and networks to guide our operations and deliver important outcomes for the people and communities we serve as well as PWDA’s organisational development.

Chief Executive Officer | Sebastian Zagarella

Sebastian brings demonstrated success in developing and implementing sustainable strategies, and with building cohesive, effective teams. He has extensive operational experience across corporate, membership and not-for-profit organisations, having held senior roles at UTS College, the NRMA Group of businesses, Qantas and Sydney Airport (Macquarie Airports).

Since December 2022, his strong leadership, stakeholder and communication skills and passion for service excellence support and empowers the PWDA team to deliver their best for PWDA and its membership. As an advocate for people living with HIV and a peer living with HIV for over 20 years, he serves as a Board Director with Positive Life NSW since 2016.

Deputy CEO | Megan Spindler-Smith

Megan is a strategic, innovative and influential Executive Leader with over two decades of driving highly successful inclusion, culture and change initiatives across the not-for-profit, public and private sectors.

As a proud Disabled person, they are passionate about developing and implementing profound intersectionally-focused strategic change for people with disability at a national level, to foster widespread accessibility and integrated inclusion. Megan creates cultures of respect, inclusivity and intersectionality.

Through their lived experience, clinical and human centred/organisational development background they have driven change at the national level for accessible media and inclusion of people with disability networks across multiple sectors. They were named as a finalist and the top 8 Disability Inclusion Changemaker 2024 and a finalist for the DLI Change Maker 2022 and 2023.

National Director Individual Advocacy | Ted Jensen

Theodore (Ted) Jensen leads the national PWDA Individual Advocacy Team since late 2022, after leading the Queensland Individual Advocacy team since 2021. His passion for data analysis and database management supports benchmarks and standards for all individual advocacy work, where he monitors patterns and trends in across the individual advocacy landscape.

Prior to moving to Australia to start a family, he initially studied to become an Occupational Therapist in the USA. Ted started with People with Disability Australia as an Individual Advocate in 2019 and has successfully piloted, pioneered and delivered advocacy programs across Queensland. He has worked in the Queensland disability advocacy sector since 2011 with a broad professional experience in private, government and non-profit organisations.

Ted holds a Graduate Certificate in Business (Philanthropy and Non-Profit Studies) from QUT; a Diploma of Disability and a Certificate III in Community Services Work from TAFE; Diploma of Project Management from the Australian College of Training & Employment; and Diplomas of Leadership and Management, and Human Resources Management from First Choice College.

Director of People & Culture | Karen Karakaya

Karen is a dedicated People and Culture leader with 14 years’ experience in human resources (HR) leadership. Karen is implementing HR strategies to drive organisational success, improve employee engagement, and foster a positive workplace culture at PWDA.

Karen has a proven track record leading diverse teams and managing complex functions in challenging environments. Her excellent leadership skills coupled with a deep understanding of HR principles, employment laws, and industry best practices, make her an asset to the organisation.

Senior Manager, Disability Housing Advocacy | Sunil Fernando

Sunil provides leadership to Disability Housing Advocacy Service and Information Line projects and the Disability Advocacy Futures project teams. Sunil has worked for the United Nations Migration Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross and served as a member of the Sri Lankan National Council for Persons with Disabilities and to the Advisory Committee on Special and Non-Formal Education. With over 18 years of experience in the international Disability Sector, he was the former Country Director for Sightsavers (Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind – UK) in Sri Lanka for over 10 years where he actively contributed to the development of the Sri Lanka national action plans on the Prevention of Avoidable Blindness, Disability, and Employment of Persons with Disability.

Sunil has a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and brings a strong background and skills in programme management, monitoring and evaluation, report writing, research, resource mobilisation, and communication.

Senior Manager, Individual Advocacy NSW | Jen Ruse

Jen leads a large team of PWDA Individual advocates across NSW including Queanbeyan, Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands. She credits her focus and passion in disability advocacy to her sister who lives with a disability and long-standing friendships with people with disability. She is a fierce proponent for the full participation of people with disability in the community and is dedicated to the positive impact that disability advocacy has on their lives.

Jen has worked in many roles in the disability sector. Between 2009-2012 she worked for ADAHC, NSW government as a case manager and then into support work in group homes. Jen started in the disability advocacy sector as an individual advocacy with ADACAS in 2012. In 2015 she took a 12-month contract with the NDIA as a plan manager, then in 2016 Jen managed a project for The Summer Foundation and ADACAS linking young people living in nursing homes with the NDIS to assist them to transfer to more suitable accommodation and have access to the support to fully participate in life.  She commenced with PWDA in 2017 as the  NSW regional manager of individual advocacy and NDIS appeals.

Senior Manager, Policy | Giancarlo de Vera

Giancarlo (they/he) is a passionate advocate for disability, multiculturalism, racial justice, LGBTIQ+ affairs and cultural diversity. He is a trained lawyer, with previous experience in politics, international affairs and diplomacy, including at the United Nations, as well as international development and identifies as LGBTIQ+, queer, non-binary and a person of colour.

Giancarlo is the inaugural Secretary of the Disabled Australian Lawyers Association, Treasurer of the Australian Centre for Disability Law, and former President of the Australian GLBTI Multicultural Council. Giancarlo was named as one of the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians of 2021 and as one of Pro Bono Australia’s Impact 25, a list recognising the social sector’s most influential people in 2022 for their significant and positive impact in Australia and overseas.

Senior Manager, Media and Communications | Anastasia Symons

Anastasia (she/her) leads a small but mighty team that is dedicated to developing and implementing communication strategies that support PWDA’s advocacy, campaigns and projects, and engagement with its members, the disability community and other stakeholders. 

Anastasia has held senior leadership and communications positions across the not-for-profit sector, where she has successfully combined her love of storytelling and strategic communications to deliver award-winning campaigns and achieve positive social change. She is well-versed in the power of media in shaping public opinion and political decision-making, especially when it amplifies the voices of lived experience.

Anastasia holds a Bachelor of Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Sydney and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Senior Manager, Corporate Services | Hollee James

Hollee heads up the Corporate Services Team that is the engine room of PWDA. This team play a pivotal role in managing the day-to-day activities of PWDA life for its staff.

Hollee brings a wealth of knowledge in the not for profit sector industry having worked in the space for last 20 years in Senior Management roles. She has a diverse range of hands on experience from HR, financial and strategic planning, contract negotiations and project development and implementation, Company Secretary, IT, membership, volunteer training and management, relationship building, marketing and fundraising with a large focus on providing exceptional customer service experiences.

She has a passion for improving the mental and physical health of the people around her by her commitment to learning and understanding behaviours to drive change in the workplace. She has a passion for creating a supportive and inclusive environment for staff to work in and epitomizes the importance of a whole team effort rather than a singular model. She has a quirky sense of dress and loves cats.

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